A rath is a roughly circular earthwork, typically dating from the early medieval period, that served as a farmstead enclosure, and finding a stone building preserved within one is not unusual in itself. What catches the attention here is how much survives: walls still standing to a height of 0.6 metres, enclosing an internal space of 5.8 metres by 2.8 metres, compact enough to suggest a single-roomed dwelling or outbuilding rather than anything grander.

The placement of the structure on a raised area within the rath may reflect deliberate drainage or status considerations, as elevated ground within an enclosure was sometimes associated with the principal dwelling. The building's stone construction, rather than the timber or wattle that has left no trace at countless comparable sites, is part of why anything is visible at all today. The site was documented by A. O'Sullivan and J. Sheehan in their 1996 archaeological survey of the Iveragh Peninsula, published by Cork University Press, which remains one of the more thorough regional surveys carried out in Ireland during that period.